Transportation funding, school age requirements and abortion legislation gained approval in Senate committees this week.

The Senate Transportation and Natural Resources Committee on Jan. 20 gave do-pass recommendations to two competing bills calling for a 20-year extension of the Maricopa County transportation excise tax.

S1082, sponsored by Sen. Thayer Verschoor, R-Dist. 22, requires separate voter approval for a portion of the — cent transportation tax to be applied to light rail costs, and it places the questions on the Nov. 2 general election ballot in Maricopa County, instead of in May as proposed in a second bill.

The committee vote was 4 to 3 on partisan lines. Voting for S1082 were Republican Sens. Carolyn Allen, District 8; Linda Binder, District 3; Robert Blendu, District 12, who sponsored competing S1074, and Marilyn Jarrett, District 19.

Democrats against the bill were Sens. Marsha Arzberger, District 25; Jack Brown, District 5, and Robert Cannell, District 24.

Mr. Blendu’s S1074 would extend the transportation sales tax to pay for freeways, streets and public transportation, including light rail. It calls for a May 18 countywide election, with no separate vote on light rail.

The committee vote was 6 to 1, with Ms. Jarrett voting no.

Both bills now go to the Finance and Appropriations committees.

Sen. Dean Martin, Finance Committee chairman, says light rail opposition will kill S1074, the single-vote plan, unless it is changed. Finance is scheduled to hear the bills Jan. 29.

Mr. Blendu told the East Valley Tribune, “It’s up to the lobbyists and who they turn their guns on.”

Kindergarten Age

In a 5-3 vote, the Senate Education Committee forwarded a bill (S1032) that would remove a school district board’s authority to admit children to kindergarten who have not reached age 5 by Sept. 1 of a current school year and to first grade before age 6.

A similar bill last year sponsored by Sen. Slade Mead, R-Dist. 20, passed the Senate but did not get to the House floor. Mr. Mead, who again is sponsoring the measure, says cases are few, especially with boys, where children younger than 5 are socially mature enough to begin school early.

He also said school districts, which currently are permitted to admit children under 5 if such is in the best interests of the child, are motivated toward early admissions to compete with charter schools.

Sens. Verschoor, Linda Aguirre, D-Dist. 16, and Richard Miranda, D-Dist. 13, voted against the bill, which is now ready for floor action.

Abortion

A bill calling for a 24-hour waiting period between a patient receiving information about abortion and the procedure made another appearance in the Legislature on Jan. 22 and received a 7-2 do pass recommendation from the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“The proposal disrespects women,” said Bryan Howard, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Northern and Central Arizona. “It suggests that the 100,000 women who have had abortions in Arizona since this proposal was first put before you eight years ago simply aren’t smart enough to have asked the right questions.”

Testifying for S1077, sponsored by Ms. Jarrett, Dr. William Chavira said, “Quite the contrary, it empowers women, and it gives them the true information to make the decision that they need to make.”

The bill stipulates, in part, that:

• No abortion shall be performed without voluntary and written informed consent after consultation with a physician at least 24 hours before the procedure.

• The license of a physician who violates informed request requirements is subject to suspension or revocation upon second violation.

Mr. Howard said informed consent is already required by law for any surgical procedure, and courts have ruled that abortion could not be treated differently from other health care procedures.

“For all of the women — all the anti-choice, anti-abortion activists who have appeared before various legislative committees to talk about their own abortion experiences and their belief that they didn’t get adequate information over the past eight years — I don’t know of evidence of any one of them achieving a [court] judgment or confirming their assertions that they made a decision based on inadequate and uninformed consent,” he said.

Dr. Chavira, a Phoenix obstetrician/ gynecologist, said women don’t receive proper consultation at Planned Parenthood, which handles 6,000 abortions annually. He said patients are grouped in a room, shown a video and don’t meet a physician until just before the procedure.

“Physicians need to be there,” said Dr. Chavira, who does not perform elective abortions.

“We have the responsibility to discuss with patients . . . to show them ultra-sounds [of the fetus] — that is not done.”

Committee chairman Jim Weiers, R-Dist. 10, limited testimony to one witness and five minutes per side because the issue has been frequently debated in the Legislature. Sens. Binder and Bill Brotherton, D-Dist. 14, voted against the bill

Last year a similar measure failed in Senate Committee of the Whole debate, 14-16.

Downwinders

The Senate Health Committee on Jan. 23 forwarded a measure to the floor (SCM1002) that calls on the federal government to include all of Mohave County in a program that reimburses people stricken with radiation related illnesses from mining of radioactive materials and testing of nuclear weapons in the 1950s and 1960s.

Currently, six Arizona counties, but only the northern portion of Mohave County, are included in the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which provides cash payments to “downwinders” who contracted certain cancers and other diseases as a result of nuclear testing in Nevada.

The other counties in the compensation program are Apache, Coconino, Gila, Navajo and Yavapai. —